Shoe construction



April zo, 1937.

G. FERGUSQN SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed March 27,

Patented Apr. 20, 1937 t UNITED f STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,078,131 snor: coNsrnUc'rIoN George Ferguson, Wollaston, Mass.; Harold F.

'Zlracy` and G. Barnum Bedding a of said George Ferguson, deceased dministrator Application March 27, 1933, Serial No. 662,924 6 Claims. (Cl. 154-2) counter,` less rigid, is of stiff ilberboard, Dre,`

10 formed, to heel shape; and the toe box, still less rigid, is of felt; stiiiened by a thermoplastic wax composition. Various other materials have been tried in each case; and, for the toe box, efforts have been made to use wood pulp because of 15 its inexpensive character; but I am. not aware of any of these wood pulp experiments having been suillciently satisfactory to be adopted by the industry, although shoe men everywhere are alert toreduce costs, if it can be known how to do that and yet produce shoes of the quality desired. Moreover, wood pulp saturated with. latex, has also been proposed ior the innersole, where flexibility is the essential quality, and where stiflness degrades the shoe. i

,0 The present invention provides a wood pulp combination product which my experiments have shown to be successiulior all four ci the above named parts cfa shoe. As compared with other proposals, it is lower in cost 4and yet has been 30 found to give satisfactory results for the widely differing degrees oi stiffness and of` resilience which are desired for these different parts oi the shoe. It has the further advantage that it renders it commercially practicable to introduce 35 stiileners into certain low priced shoes, at toe and counter, these shoes being made oi rubbertreated cloth, and in the trade known as rubber shoes, into which it has hitherto been considered not practicable to introduce such stiening ele- 40 ments; and it has other advantages in the practical woricingand handling of the material during the manuiacture of the shoe.

The invention comprises the combining ci' a suitable sheet of wood pulp with a suitable solu- 45 tion oi an artiilcial resin oi particular description. Preferably, when used for toe box or for counter, there is also an admixture of small proportion oi' rubber? and a larger proportion when used for innersore. y

5o These materials, theresin and rubber, penetrate n sheet oi pulp to an adequate extent, when the pulp is immersed in liquid containing these materials,` so that. upon solldiilcation, as by evaporation of their solvent, the combined sheet 55 oi pulp, resin, and rubber, it any', thereaiter possesses the requisite degree of stifiness, resilience, and toughness, When soit from an initial dipping or `a subsequent dipping, the sheet of pulp and impregnated resin `can be molded easily into toe box shape, or into the counter shape, or 5 the shank shape, so as to solidify in the particular shape and tend permanently to hold this molded shape, or to return to it if ilexed therefrom.

'Ihe kind oi wood pulp which I have found 10 f most satisfactory is the white sulte product of poplar wood oi' good quality, free from knots and impurities, but I have also used sulfate pulp, and other wood pulp can be used, including mechanical pulp. The pulp is to be taken in sheet form, oi thickness selected, or even in a plurality oi laminae, according to the purpose intended, whether for toe box, counter, shank, or innersole. The artificial resin to be added to this pulp may be any of the firm resin-like products ci the polymerization ci unsymmetrically substituted ethylene, chosing one that will soften suillciently either with moderate heat or by use oi.' a solvent. The general class of stlffeners thus indicated lncludes polymerized styrol (phenyl ethylene) and polymerized vinyl derivatives and esters (ethylene monochloride or vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, vinyl acetate, 4vinyl chloracetate, and the like). Other and similar compounds containing the vinyl group, GilzzCH are found to be usable when polymerlzed to such a degree that they are hard at ordinary temperatures. Some oi the above are not soluble, so far as I know, and for this reason I mention that the product selected for this use must be one that is soluble, in some one or other acceptable solvent, or else must be reducible by heat to a state of fluidity or of high plasticity, so that it canpenetrate the sheet o! pulp. The material oi this class which I particularly preier at present is a polymerized styrol (phenyl ethylene) when pclymerized to such a degree es to be hard at ordinary temperatures. This is obtainable in the market at present under the trade name ci Resoglaz, and other products ci' the class described are obtainable under 4,5 other trade names among which are Vinylite. which is a vinyl resin, available either in solution form or solid, and, it solid, either in sheet orv powder form. These may be applied with varying assisting solvent agents, according to what particular resin is being used, and according to what in particular, of the ordinary solvents is a solvent for this resin and is deemed satisfactory for use. The particular such resin which I lat present prefer being the polymeriled lar variety in hand which would be high enough to decompose the substance as this would in suchv cases release a halide or other corrosive or injurious product of decomposition. If the critical temperature is not known it can easily be learned vby experiment.

When a sheet of pulp freshly soaked in the resinous solution is to be set next to kid stock, as in the toe of a shoe, it is advisable to apply latex to the flesh side of the kid rst, to prevent the solution from breaking through to the finished side of the leather tip of the shoe. A tip thus applied can produce a desirable degree of reinforcement or stiiiening with quite a thin sheet of the impregnated pulp.

And while I have described the wood pulp as being the preferred variety, owing to the low cost and abundant supply, and easy manipulation of such in manufacture, it is obvious that there may be other pulp stocks which may be its equivalent structurally and in technical eiect.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A process, useful in the manufacturing of shoes and in like arts, for the reinforcing of sheet material, comprising the making of a solution, in an organic solvent, of a polymerized resin-like product which is. in the class" which includes polymerized styrol (phenyl ethylene) yand polymerized vinyl derivatives and esters (ethylene monochloride or vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, vinyl acetate, vinyl chloracetate, and the like), which product is hard when dry at ordinary temperature; the applying or this solution to the surface of a sheet of wood pulp, with impregnating eiect; the laying of the impregnated sheet over 40 the sheet of material which is to be reinforced,

with an organic solvent between and to an extent penetrating both sheets, for mamng adhesive contact between them; moulding the two sheets together, under pressure, and eliminating the sol- 45 vent.

2. A process as in claim 1 in which the solution also contains rubber, the rubber being within the range of approximately one-fifth to three-fourths of the mixture oi' resin and rubber solutions.

3. A process as in claim 1, in which polymerized styrol is present in the said resin-like product.

4. Sheet material, useful in shoes and the like, wherein a sheet of wood pulp is combined with a resiliently iirm resin-like'mixture of solid products resulting from polymerization of styrol and resulting from the polymerization of any from the class of vinyl esters comprising ethylene monochloride, vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, vinyl acetate, vinyl chloracetate and the like which, being polymerized to a state characterized by hardness at ordinary temperatures, when not in solution, is further characterized by being capable of being rendered uid by one of the conventional dissolving orheating methods; the said mixture being one of which an optimum form is about one part of polymerized styrol to two parts of the vinyl ester.

5. Sheet material,` as in claim 4, in which the concentration of the resinous material is relatively greater in that portion of the pulp which is near and at the surface of the sheet of pulp, constituting that portion of the sheet relatively hard and tough, and is relatively less in the midportion of thickness oi' the sheet, constituting there a relatively greater cushioning eilect; and the sheet of combined pulp and resinous product is adhesively attached to the overlying material of the shoe. y

6. Sheet material, as in claim 4, in which the sheet of wood pulp is also combined with rubber; said sheet having a plurality of plies of wood pulp each of which plies has a greater concentration thereof at its mid-thickness, the surface bodies of the resin in adjacent plies being adhesively attached together to constitute the complete sheet.

GEORGE FmGUSON. 

